Methodology & sources
Every wattage on this site is a conservative sizing value chosen from the range published by real sources — utility, manufacturer and vendor sizing charts. We do not use government wattage tables (the well-known DOE table is defunct), we record source disagreements as ranges, and when we cannot source a figure we leave the item out rather than estimate it.
Source mix
| Source class | Figures |
|---|---|
| vendor | 124 |
| manufacturer | 26 |
| utility | 22 |
The sizing rule
Recommended rating = (Σ running watts + largest single starting surge) × 1.2
Motor-driven appliances briefly draw far more than their running watts at startup. A generator that can't cover the largest surge on top of the running load stalls the motor. The 20% headroom covers real-world derating (altitude, heat, propane) and appliance ageing.
Battery power stations
Battery stations are listed with their watt-hour capacity and are never recommended for multi-hour motor loads (sump pumps, refrigerators in outages) without a runtime check — a station that can start a pump may only run it for an hour.
Corrections
Spotted a figure that doesn't match its source or your nameplate? Email [email protected] — corrections ship within days and are noted here.